Fairfield math club has raised $53,000 for trip to Harvard math tourney

Fairfield High Preparatory School math teacher Vonda Dudley, center, poses with a several of the 30 students she will take to compete in the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament next month in Boston. (The Birmingham News/Michelle Campbell)

FAIRFIELD, Alabama -- Thirty Fairfield High School students can now say they are bound for Harvard University.

Businesses, churches, community organizations and individuals have helped raise about $53,000 to send the school's Math Club to Boston for next month's Harvard-MIT Math Tournament.

Big donations came in this week in the form of $17,000 from Birmingham-based MortgageAmerica and $10,000 from Fairfield-based FireRock, a fireplace manufacturer.

Other groups such as the local and national chapters of the Fairfield Industrial High Alumni Association, Miles College and the Harvard Club of Birmingham have made large donations in recent weeks.

Businesses such as Alabama Power, Protective Life and Ligon Industries also have pledged money for the trip, school officials said.

Team sponsor Vonda Dudley said the students now have enough money to cover the basic expenses of the trip and any additional money received will go toward providing meals and equipment such as graphing calculators for the students.

About 20 chaperones, mainly parents, also will make the trip, Dudley said.

"We are going to Harvard," Dudley and members of the math team shouted on Friday upon receiving the check from FireRock.

Dudley said she can't say enough about the outpouring of support by the greater Birmingham community.

"This shows our community as a whole is behind our math club," Dudley said. "I'm pleased our kids are going to Harvard and they don't have to worry anymore about how they're going to get there."

Math club members said they were surprised by the outpouring of support. Students said Fairfield is often seen in a negative light and many of them felt no one would be willing to help.

"I didn't know there were that many people that cared, because we stay in Fairfield," said ninth-grader Jamiracle Howard. "Some people think all Fairfield people are bad, but that is not true."

Teammate Jordan Walker echoed that sentiment.

"Now we know people really care and they want us to do this," she said. "It shows they have faith in us."

The tournament, one of the most well-known high school math tournaments in the country, will feature 900 competitors. Fairfield's team will leave for Massachussetts on Feb. 9 and return on Feb. 13. The team will compete on Feb. 11.

Dudley initially thought the trip would cost about $30,000, but the group had to switch its method of travel from train to plane, which increased the cost, she said.